Leaf Peeping Run: Eagle Drops Rabbit in Front of Car

[Jimmy Snyder]

I took the family to Northern PA/Southern NY this weekend for leaf peeping. It was a little disappointing because we jumped the gun. Although we saw some beautiful sights, it would have been better if I had waited a week or two. In fact, we're going to go again in two weeks to verify. But we saw one thing that made the whole trip worthwhile. Stop reading now if you are squeamish. I was on a rural road when an eagle flew out in front of the car, about 50 feet high and about 50 - 75 feet ahead of the car. It had white tail feathers fanned out like the flaps of an airplane when it's landing. In its talons dangled a rabbit probably already dead. I was going about 25 or 30 mph and was gaining on the eagle. We traveled together like that for about 1000 feet or so when the eagle dropped the motionless limp rabbit onto the road just to the side of me. It continued flying along the road so that I overtook it and got a good look at its white face and neck. How magnificent. Then it flew up and away, I suppose back to the rabbit. I guess that the eagle thought that my car was a danger to it and for some reason, it could not fly high with the heavy rabbit, so it couldn't top the trees that bordered the road. Probably it dropped the rabbit to gain speed and then height. It is a sight I will never forget.

 

[Astronuc]

The leaves have started to change. Probably will peak in the Hudson Valley this week or early next week. Leaves are starting to fall also.

 

[turbo]

Leaves are peaking here (Upper Kennebec Valley) and should peak later this week in southern Maine. I'll get to a nearby lookout and get pictures if I can.

Edit: It's only a couple of miles away, so I hopped over there and took some shots. It's a very wide image, so I didn't embed it. That long fog-bank is over the Kennebec.

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x318/turbo-1/lookout.jpg

 

[hypatia]

Maybe the Eagle wanted you to take the rabbit?

 

[turbo]

Four days later from the same scenic lookout - probably max color now, which will decline with increasing leaf drop.

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x318/turbo-1/falllookout.jpg

 

[edward]

Four days later from the same scenic lookout - probably max color now, which will decline with increasing leaf drop.

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x318/turbo-1/falllookout.jpg

WOW great photo Turbo-1. I grew up in north eastern Indiana and I really miss the fall colors and seasonal changes.

In AZ we just have January and summer.

 

[turbo]

WOW great photo Turbo-1. I grew up in north eastern Indiana and I really miss the fall colors and seasonal changes.

In AZ we just have January and summer.

Thanks, edward. I live on a hill just a mile (as the crow flies) from that lookout, and though we have nice views from our hill, that one is a bit less obstructed.

I spent a few years doing consulting work for mills in the deep south, and their autumns were pretty darned blah. Of course, we pay for the colors with fast declines in temperature, short days, and the rapidly-approaching winter. I hope we don't have snowfall like last winter and this spring. We got well over 10' of snow, and I was getting mighty sick of clearing the driveway, walks, roof and deck ever few days.

 

[FrancisZ]

I like to go up to "Sam's Point" in Ellenville, NY. As a kid, it used to be known as "Ice Cave Mountain," but not anymore for whatever reason. Anyway, if someone lives in the area, would you mind telling me when the leaves will be nice. Astronuc, you predicted this week--any luck?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I spent a few years doing consulting work for mills in the deep south, and their autumns were pretty darned blah.

I think the climate in England and most of Europe is warmer than in the New England states. This is a story my mother once told me. I haven't been able to verify it.

Early American settlers painted fall scenes and some of these paintings were viewed in Europe. There it was widely believed that Americans were deliberately lying about the vividness of the colors.

 

[turbo]

I think the climate in England and most of Europe is warmer than in the New England states. This is a story my mother once told me. I haven't been able to verify it.

Early American settlers painted fall scenes and some of these paintings were viewed in Europe. There it was widely believed that Americans were deliberately lying about the vividness of the colors.

It is borne out in historical fact, Jimmy. When the first English settlers came to New England, they expected to deal with a climate that was commensurate with those of similar latitudes in Western Europe. They were sadly mistaken and many died as a result. If they had bothered to consult with the fishermen and trappers who had been mining North America's natural wealth, they would have been better prepared. New England winters can be long and brutal. I sure would not want to try to survive one in a wattle-and-daub shelter, especially when the jet stream pumps arctic air in for weeks at a time.

 

[Redbelly98]

I like to go up to "Sam's Point" in Ellenville, NY. As a kid, it used to be known as "Ice Cave Mountain," but not anymore for whatever reason. Anyway, if someone lives in the area, would you mind telling me when the leaves will be nice. Astronuc, you predicted this week--any luck?

Go here, and click "Current Northeast Report"
http://www.foliagenetwork.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=34&Itemid=68

Looks like Ellenville NY is within a week of peak color.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

This weekend is the American Indian Arts Festival at Rancocas State Park, just up the road from my house. A woman had an exhibition of birds of prey. She had several owls and hawks on display and was giving lectures on their physical characteristics and habits. I described the incident with the eagle to her and she said that she had seen a similar sight. An eagle with a fish in it's talons flew 60 feet over her head, right there in the park the week before. Now I will keep my eyes open for eagles right here where I live. We also plan to go back to NY for a second inspection tour.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

The double whammy to the ecomomy (no money, no credit) has resulted in a pessimistic outlook and renewed interest in the dead and dying. Like autumn leaves. While everyone else is complaining, we were doing something about it, pumping literally tens of dollars into the global monetary system by taking a short vacation to Hammondsport, NY, home of Glenn Curtiss, the aviation pioneer. There is a museum in the town which we examined at leisure. It turns out that he was a pioneer in other areas as well. I recommend the museum. Then we went on a leaf inspection tour of Lake Keuka, one of the finger lakes. I guess during one of the ice ages, glaciers ran through between the mountains and created these lakes. The fall colors on the mountains reflected off the lake make a spectacular image. I recommend that too. New York state is expected to go to Obama this year, but judging from the lawn signs that I saw, it was 50-50, that is 50% McCain, 50% no lawn sign.

 

[hypatia]

I went to The Henry Ford/Greenfield Village museum on Sunday. Colors are just perfect here, and they were making pumpkin and maple pies! As night fell, they lit some 400 carved pumpkins along the roads, and all manor of scary things, took over the Village. It was really fun.

 

[Astronuc]

I like to go up to "Sam's Point" in Ellenville, NY. As a kid, it used to be known as "Ice Cave Mountain," but not anymore for whatever reason. Anyway, if someone lives in the area, would you mind telling me when the leaves will be nice. Astronuc, you predicted this week--any luck?

The leaves are still nice in the lower and mid-Hudson Valley. In fact the hills either side of the Hudson River look a lot like the image posted by turbo-1.

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/2967/hvfall1006557ch6.jpg

We had a freeze last night 25°F (-4°C), and the leaves have started to fall and that will pick up during the next two weeks.

 

[Moonbear]

This weekend was perfect for a drive from WV to MI (and might have almost caught up with hypatia if PF and PM wasn't down for the server move ). There were a few places along the way that were absolutely stunning. If they wouldn't have required pulling over into construction zones on bridges, I would have loved to snap some photos. In one place, the sun hit the brightly colored leaves just the right way, and it looked like a whole valley was ablaze in color!

 

[turbo]

Went to the lookout on the next hill from my house today. Leave-drop has scrubbed the hills of most of the color, and look at that nasty stuff in the higher elevations!

(No image tags - the images are fairly wide.)

First, looking west at Sugarloaf Mt.
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x318/turbo-1/Sugarloaf.jpg

Next looking north to Bald Mt.
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x318/turbo-1/moxiebald.jpg

 

[edward]

Great pics Turbo-1.

 

[turbo]

Thanks, edward! I stopped over to a neighbor's house this morning, and though the view from my property is obstructed by trees, I could see snow on the mountains from his place, so I popped over to the lookout on the next hill for a few pictures. There have been years when we had lovely foliage AND snow on the mountains, but this just isn't one of them.

 

[Redbelly98]

Things are kind of weird right now where I live (central N.J.). There are a lot of fallen leaves on the ground. Yet there are also a lot of green leaves in the trees.

I want to rake the yard, but must hold myself back for a couple more weeks.

 

[Moonbear]

Hmm...our trees have turned pretty colors, but are holding the leaves quite well still. Glad I'm not in charge of raking the yard; I have a feeling the leaves are going to trickle down to the ground rather slowly this year extending the leaf raking season well into the snow shoveling season. I've shoveled snow that landed over a layer of leaves before, and it's NOT fun!

 

[turbo]

At our last house, the lot was thoroughly populated by oak trees, and white oaks are VERY stingy with their leaves and hold them for a long time. One year, we notified the highway department (which had a vacuum truck to pick up leaves and reduce the town's trash fees by making compost) to come pick up the leaves. They didn't come right away and a couple of days later, we got a heavy wet snow, followed by a hard freeze. The town's plows pushed the piles of leaves back onto our lawn and covered them with snow. As a result, in the spring when I managed to re-rake all the leaves, the ground underneath the leaf-piles was infested with ants. The insulation from heavy layers of leaves and the heat from composting waste were enough to keep the ants fat and happy all winter long, and they destroyed almost all the vegetation under those piles. What a mess!

 

[Redbelly98]

Glad I'm not in charge of raking the yard; I have a feeling the leaves are going to trickle down to the ground rather slowly this year ...

A year or two ago, we decided to compost our leaves instead of using the town curbside collection service. So even though I'm the leaf mulcher & raker, at least I'm not in a rush to finish it all before the town's final collection run.

Oh, and our electric mower is a good leaf mulcher as well. Our 1/4 acre of leaves fits easily into three 3-foot diameter x 4-foot high bins.

The insulation from heavy layers of leaves and the heat from composting waste were enough to keep the ants fat and happy all winter long...

I'm continually amazed by the heat that composting generates.

 

[turbo]

I'm continually amazed by the heat that composting generates.

There are a LOT of sawmills up here. Once upon a time, sawdust was piled of being recycled, composted, burned for fuel, etc. Large old sawdust piles would eventually generate enough heat from rotting (insulated by many yards of cellulose) that the sawdust would combust spontaneously. A fire in a large sawdust pile could take days or weeks to quell, only to erupt again months later. Factors influencing that: 1) slow infiltration of Oxygen into the pile during the fire meant that parts of the pile were perfectly primed to combust without enough Oxygen to support it. 2) absorption of water by sawdust left some hot spots deep in the pile.

As the water is evaporated and the pile becomes more porous to air, the hot spots can flare.